The Z Word
by Paigesaurus
Summary: Shane McCutcheon wakes on an L.A beach which seems completely empty, searching for anyone who can tell her what is going on she comes across Carmen De La Pica Morales hiding in a beach hut, Carmen explains how a virus broke out overnight creating bloodthirsty walking corpses. Shane starts to fall for Carmen on their journey to a safe camp, can they find people they know on the way?
1. Lifeguard's tower

To some, an L.A beach is the perfect destination for a little R&R, golden sand leads the path to a tranquil sea which shines all shades of blues and greens in the sun, the palm trees line the coast providing shade to the beach-goers during the heat of the day. It was the perfect place to enjoy the natural pleasures of the world, listening to the waves turn and curl gently with the fizzle of the sand being pulled along the shore. Shane McCutcheon was one to never pass up on relaxation, slouched into a life guard's tower a dozen feet up and a few feet from the sun lit sea with her arm drooped over the side swinging freely, her white shirt sleeve was rippling in the wind and her jeans which were attached to the tower lifted in the air with each strong gust that came, she could almost be dead to the world... Well what was left of it.

A large squawk came from above causing Shane to jolt into an alert position, the frail frame of the wooden tower shook side to side only to be encouraged by the unusually strong wind, yet the woman perched inside of the tall white contraption maintained a stiff posture, only focusing on the sky which was a bright, clean blue. She lifted her shades slightly and squinted at the above, raising a hand to block the sun from her fragile eyes, a frown started to emerge on her face which was quickly followed by a feel of confusion which swamped her almost at once as she curiously watched several blackbirds circling just above. Her confusion only grew upon looking towards the crisp sand below to see a cluster of the birds gathered around a red stained patch which was slowly being washed away by the creeping ocean, as a naturally inquisitive person Shane's first thought was to climb down and investigate, and so she proceeded to do so, picking up her scruffily hung clothing on the way. Pulling up her loose ripped jeans and fastening her black leather belt Shane reached down for her next items of clothing, that was when it soon became clear that in the drunken mess of the night before she seemed to have misplaced her shoes, the sand began to burn her feet and so she hopped to the side burying them in the cooler sand which was shaded by the guard's tower. Taking a moment to forget her pain she looked around to assess the rest of the beach, sun loungers and towels scattered the ground yet there seemed to be no one in sight, umbrellas blew in the sand, falling over and tumbling down the beach and still no one appeared to claim their runaway items. As Shane watched the umbrellas flip and spin down the beach she realized that no movement occurred elsewhere, not on the sand, in the water or along the paths, where was everyone?

Her attention was soon brought back to the red stained patch in the sand as a gust of wind dragged a gut retching smell towards Shane which hit her in the face almost immediately, she fell to the floor gagging and her eyes started to stream, the sudden thud scared the birds away and they quickly disappeared, leaving behind a fleshy looking lump which was surrounded what now looked like blood. Upon further investigation Shane could see what could only be described as a mauled head, she retched again and bent over to face the cleaner sand which lay just next to her, this set the perfect blank canvas for her to think out the situation, was this a human head? Was it even a head at all? Why are there no people on the beach? Why does L.A seem abandoned?


	2. Pocket watch

**_Firstly, thank you to all of those who have read this and enjoyed the story so far. I am very new to fanfiction and will figure out soon how to reply to reviews or sort of, let you know how pleased i am to get feedback. Secondly, if you like my story and the theme its based around then i think you would enjoy viewing my tumblr account as it holds pretty much the same interests. .com _**

**_Hope you enjoy the new chapter guys! xx_**

* * *

She jumped up and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, struggling to maintain her balance she once again bent over, this time focusing on the water which rushing up the shore and beginning to wash away the horrific mess. Her mind was briefly numb as she watched a shining object crawl up and down the blood covered sand with the help of the red stained water, Shane quickly tried to forget about the stomach churning sight she had seen only seconds before, which now lay next to this mysterious object, she never knew that something so simple could be so distracting in such a situation. Quickly scampering across the scorching sand towards the damp and cool shore, Shane let out a sigh of relief as the water lapped around her feet sending a cooling sensation through her body, she bent down to roll up her jeans which were now dragging in the wet grainy sand and with that the water once again lapped around her feet, this brought the glimmering object within reaching distance and so Shane reached out an unsure hand to retrieve it, the circular shape shone in the sun as though it was attempting to be found by someone, anyone. Upon picking it up Shane began to examine the item and it soon became clear that it was a pocket watch, the disk shaped metallic casing fitted neatly into Shane's pale palm, the small piece was covered in engraved writing which was all too foreign for her to understand, around the writing lay an engraved frame which swirled to each corner, creating a box for the words to neatly sit in.

Falling back into the dampened sand, Shane opened the pocket watch which she was now delicately holding by the long silver chain looped to the top, this allowed the watch to sway in the wind, slowly in and out from Shane's body, like the water lapping around her. She reached out, flicking the latch and opening the watch to reveal a blank clock face which stayed stationary with no movement, but the left side of the watch was more interesting to Shane, stuck within it was a small faded image of a woman, smiling happily whilst she was bundling two small children in her arms, a little girl and a baby boy. Realization suddenly hit Shane like a bolt of lightning, what if this object belonged to the person which laid a few feet to her right? She turned once more to look at the disgusting scene, but thought no sense in even looking for similarities between the woman in the image and the mangled body on the floor. Huffing loudly Shane threw her head in her hands and shook it side to side, she needed to find out what was going on, and the only problem was there was no one around to ask.

A call to the cops would probably be the first thing on anyone's list, but Shane had no phone which she realized when patting down her jean's pockets, this wasn't too surprising for her as every time she wondered on a night out she would usually lose her phone, leaving it on a bar or at some chick's house. Standing up slowly with a huff she looked left, then right, then left again, eventually focusing her gaze upon a small, brown beach hut she knew well, a girl usually worked there which Shane had taking a liking to, her advances were kindly knocked back on a number of occasions but something kept her coming back to the beautiful Latina again, and again. This time she would be coming back for a different reason, to simply ask for a phone to call the cops and report the monstrosity which was washing away from the beach, Shane stood in a hurry and paced quickly along the water's edge, in the direction of the small African style, round, straw hut.


	3. Carmen De La Pica Morales

**I know the story is off to a slow start, i usually write so a day doesn't stretch over more than 2 chapters, i felt that the setting needed to be explained in detail to put the mindset of complete lost upon you:D make you feel like you're there. After chapter 4 the story should pick up a pace, until the setting is moved. So here goes... Commence chapter 3**

**enjoy:* xx**

The water kicked up as Shane moved quickly along the cool shore, each drop that landed on her was soon absorbed by the sun which left small salty patches on her crisp white, half buttoned shirt, the chain from the pocket watch hung from her jeans and the sun glistened on it as it dangled freely. The hut was a mere 50 foot away but the walk to it seemed to take forever, Shane took in the silence, only listening to her feet crash in and out of the water with every step, her mind was both distracted and focused at once, distracted weirdly by the silence of the world around her, the gruesome find on the beach and the object which was now in her pocket yet her focal point was reaching the hut, calling the cops and finding out what the hell was going on.

As Shane reached the hut she realized that the shutter on the small half circle window was down and padlocked, the steps which lead to the small door on the side were up and the door was closed with no handle on the outside, only what looked like a small key hole. Thankfully the hut had created a perfect amount of shade for Shane to stoop into, she quickly ran from the protection of the cool water and collapsed into the sandy floor, pulling her knees into her chest and hugging them with her arms, resting her head on her knees she stared down with disappointment covering her face, this day was getting longer and longer. She knew that the hut would usually be open first thing every morning and so she sighed with the hope that this morning the beauty who usually occupied the stand was late, Shane once again looked up to the sky, following the sounds or squawks and squeals and yet again her eyes followed a dozen or so black birds as they hovered just over a tall building just within the busy city, her mind was baffled as she had never really seen that many black birds in the city before, maybe with the rush of L.A life she had never really taken the time to observe the skies and what they held, or maybe this was the day for everything unusual to happen all at once.

Ten minutes or so passed with Shane drawing in the sand beside her, she mainly wrote her name which she finished with an extravagant 'E' swirling under the other letters, her concentration was suddenly broke as the door to her left creaked open slowly, she couldn't see inside of the hut or who was opening the door as she sat on the side it was hinged, shuffling came from inside the small stand and Shane prepared herself for whoever was about to exit. Bracing into a crouch position she threw her head forwards trying to see inside, she was never one to be patient and so to hurry the process Shane grabbed the edge of the door and attempted to yank it open, the door was snapped back and it suddenly became a tug of war between her and the stranger. She snagged her fingers on some loose splinters and abruptly fell into the sand, rolling onto her side "OW, SHIT" the rather loud expression of pain caught the attention of the mystery person as the hut door now swung fully open, Shane looked up, scrunching her face and clasping her now bleeding hand which ran onto her white shirt sleeve, "fuck fuck fuck" she repeated the same word over and over until another voice spoke out. "God, are you okay?" the Latina stood with on hand on her head as her face grew concerned and worried, then waving her other and offering it as help up she anxiously whispered "hurry, get in!"


End file.
